Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms adds 3 new actors to expanding cast

We're currently watching the second season of House of the Dragon, HBO's big, bold Game of Thrones prequel series. Set well over a hundred years before the original show, House of the Dragon is about how the Targaryen family tears itself apart in an internecine war, with dragons fighting each other in the sky. It's as big in scope as Game of Thrones was.

But it's also expensive and time-consuming to make. The second season of House of the Dragon will wrap up in a couple of weeks and we probably won't be watching the third season until 2026. But HBO doesn't want us to forget Westeros in the meantime. So it's making a wholly different prequel series: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, based on author George R.R. Martin's Dunk and Egg novellas.

Set decades after the events of House of the Dragon but decades before Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms follows a nearly 7-foot-tall knight named Ser Duncan the Tall and his diminuative squire Egg. Together, they travel around the Seven Kingdoms going on knightly errands. There are no dragons, we don't see the Iron Throne, and altogether it's a more relaxed kind of Game of Thrones story.

HBO is filming the show even as we speak, and we already know a lot of the cast members, including:

• Peter Claffey as Dunk
• Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg
• Finn Bennett as Aerion "Brightflame" Targaryen, a dramatic, half-mad Targaryen prince who makes trouble for Dunk early in his journey
• Bertie Carvel as Baelor "Breakspear" Targaryen, Aerion's uncle and a much more level-headed guy
• Sam Spruell as Maekar Targaryen, Aerion's father
• Tanzyn Crawford as Tanselle, a puppeteer Dunk meets at a tourney in the Reach
• Daniel Ings as Lyonel Baratheon, one of the participants in that tourney

Those are some of the main players in the first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms; Dunk and Egg travel to a new location with every new novella, so we may see a new cast if the show gets a second season. But the headliners are only part of what fills out a TV series. You also need supporting characters and bit parts. According to Redanian Intelligence, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms have recruited a few new ones, including:

• Steven Calvert as a Stormland knight
• Rowan Robinson as Rowan
• Abigail O'Regan in an unknown role

The Stormlands are where the Baratheon family hails from, so perhaps Calvert's character is traveling to the tourney alongside Lyonel Baratheon. RI notes that "Rowan" is probably a code name, and as for Abigail O'Regan's character, we're all in the dark.

The first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will run for six episodes, three directed by Sarah Adina Smith and three directed by Owen Harris. It's due to come out sometime in 2025. Hopefully it will bridge the gap while we wait for new seasons of House of the Dragon. There are still two new episodes of that show to go before the second season ends, airing Sunday nights on HBO and Max.

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